September 9, 2017

Get Baked — A Review

ByCathy Zhang | September 9, 2017

It’s almost midnight. You’re tired from a day of classes and are still struggling to finish your assignments that are due tomorrow. Your brain craves something sweet to keep powering through the night, but Ithaca is not one of those cities with an abundant list of options for late-night desserts — until now.

Baked, a dessert delivery service by Luna Inspired Street Foods, delivers products targeted to Cornell and Ithaca College students to satisfy our late-night dessert cravings. From ooey-gooey half baked brownies to 16-inch giant cookies, Baked has designed its menu to accommodate a variety of occasions, from your friend’s midnight surprise birthday to nightlong studying parties. Impressed by their menu and by the positive reviews of Luna’s desserts before Baked existed, I decided to try Baked myself and invited my apartment mates to dig in as well.

The Baked website was easy to follow and orders could be placed quickly. A selection of toppings from, M&Ms to fresh berries and hot fudge, can be added to cookies and brownies. Pairing options such as milk and flurries are also available, which I thought was brilliant — classic combos for those moments when you’re too lazy to walk to the convenience store for a jug of milk.

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Craving some freshly baked brownies, I ordered a 1/2 brownie pan of their Half-Baked Brownies, hoping this would serve around 4-5 people since the website doesn’t include a description of their brownie pan size. The brownies arrived in around 30 minutes, and there were two giant brownies in the box, bigger than I imagined. Contrary to my usual impression of take-out desserts as cold and mushy, these brownies were hot and fresh, with a chewy center and slightly hard exterior — cravings, check. As delicious as they are, though, we still had around a quarter of the box left, even with five hungry college girls!

Was it a good deal? $17.99 for half of a brownie pan seemed slightly overpriced for the average student budget, but considering its portion and density, this was an acceptable price, but I would definitely return more often if the price were slightly lower. Overall, Baked has lived up to my expectations of a dessert delivery service, and I look forward to seeing its growth in the future.

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Correction: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Insomnia Cookies only delivers cookies. In fact, they also deliver ice cream, brownies, cookie-cakes, bigwiches and beverages.

The sit-down area is spacious and clean, with just chairs and a condiment stand. The food is prepared behind a large glass panel, so I could see the cook skillfully spreading the batter in two semicircular sweeps on a large round griddle with a cracked egg on top.